MT. VERNON –– A Madison County laborer will not receive workers' compensation benefits for abdominal injuries, an appellate court ruled.
The Fifth District Appellate Court affirmed a lower court's decision upholding the denial of benefits to Richard Rednour by the Illinois Workers Compensation Commission.
Rednour filed a lawsuit in Madison County Circuit Court against the commission and his employer, Metro Contract Services, after they denied benefits following an injury in July 2010.
According to court documents, Rednour was moving railroad ties when he bent down and felt something "just blew out" in his abdomen. The injury caused his stomach to swell and he sought medical attention four days later. Rednour was diagnosed with a right ventral hernia. He also suffers from depression, the court records state.
An arbitrator later ruled Rednour "sustained an accidental injury arising out of and in the course of his employment with Metro, but that his current condition of ill-being is not causally related to his work accident," according to the court records.
In the 11-page ruling, the Fifth District Appellate Court agreed and noted Rednour's prior issues with his abdomen.
"Based upon the record before us, we conclude that the commission’s finding that the claimant’s current condition of abdominal ill-being is not causally related to his work accident of July 22, 2010, is not against the manifest weight of the evidence," Justice Thomas Hoffman wrote in the opinion.
Illinois Fifth District Appellate Court Case number 5-17-0480WC